Trump Tells UN: Iran Gets a Deal After the Midterms — Or 'I Annihilate the Islamic Republic'
The president laid out a stark choice for Tehran in his address to world leaders, hours after Iran's Revolutionary Guard vowed to "change the geography of the war" if Washington escalates further.
President Trump gave Iran an ultimatum from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday: wait for a deal after the November midterms, or face annihilation.
"But I believe we'll make a deal, right after the election," Trump told the assembled world leaders, before pivoting to the alternative. "Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill," he said, adding that "the United States and Iran will definitely get it done — we will get it done, one way or the other," according to CBS News' account of the speech.
The remarks landed as the U.S.-Iran war approaches its seventh month, and hours after a spokesman for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Mohebbi, warned Monday that the Guard was prepared for a "long-term war" and would "certainly bring new weapons with new capabilities into the battle" if the U.S. escalates further, with targets that "will no longer necessarily be the same as before," per U.S. News' reporting on the warning.
A Full Diplomatic Card Table
Iran wasn't the only item on Trump's agenda at Turtle Bay. The White House said he would later meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the gathering, with Zelensky saying beforehand there is "diplomatic momentum" toward an energy truce with Russia and that the meeting "could change a lot."
Trump also took part in a signing ceremony formalizing a new security agreement with Denmark and Greenland, telling reporters the deal "gives the United States permanent control over security" on the Arctic island, and said the U.S. — which already maintains a presence there — will build two "major" military bases on Greenland.
The speech came during what NPR described as a rough stretch for the president, who is addressing world leaders while polling below 40% approval amid growing public unease over the economic toll of the Iran war, less than two months before midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.
Trump is set to spend the rest of the week on high-stakes diplomacy, including hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House beginning Wednesday — a visit that comes with its own flashpoint brewing over Taiwan.